Coffee roasting product, method, and machine



Ma 12, 1942. DANTZIG 2,282,708

. COFFEE ROASTING PRODUCT, METHOD, AND MACHINE Filed Sept. 26, 1940 2 Shets-Sheet l I zg Z 4 a a J IaZz'as Jazzizg'y May 12, 1942. T. DANTZIG, 2,232,703

COFFEE ROASTING PRODUCT, METHOD, AND MACHINE Fil ed Sept. 26, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheei; ,2

P57 g Q *57 types ofcofiee products;

' tionv there Patented May 12,

COFFEE noas'rfim rnonuc'r, Mn'rnon;

ANDMACBINE.

Tobias Dantzig, Hyattsville, Md. s .Appl ication September at, 1940, Serial No. 358,530

13. Claims.

This invention relates to cofiee roasting and includes novel products resulting from novel methods and machines or devices for producing roasted coffee.

The roasting of cofiee is a well developed art but the limitations of that art as practiced today I require the roasting of the cofiee bean in substantially centrally located roasting plants from which the roasted coffee is distributed to retail outlets. Handling coffee in this manner and roasting and distribution in this way gives rise to products which when stored'over riods-result in the development of rancidity in the coffee.

,In more recent years there has been a demand for freshly roasted products andin fact daily roasting of cofiee is carried out. Such methods, however, result in large losses where thecoifee cannot be used because it has been on the shelf formore than a day or longer periods.

any substan- ,tial periodof time,'even relatively -short pe- Other methods have sought to eliminate the development of rancidity in the roasted cofi'ee,

by removal of cofiee oil'at some stage of the coffee treatment process. While the removal of reasons for development of rancidity, removal of the cofiee oil' entails loss of flavor and aroma which materially afiects the quality of vthe roasted coffee.

Among the objects of the present invention are included coflfee. roasting methods in which the coflfee can be roasted rapidly for use as desired.

Other objects include the Further objects include machines and devices for roasting coffee and producing such products. Still further objects and advantages of the present invention will appearfrom the-more detailed description givenbelow, it being under-. Y stood, however, that this more detailed description is given by way of. illustration and explana-.

various changes thereinimayib'e made 'by those skilled in the'art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

In connection with that more detailed descrip-- is shown in the accompanying draw- I ings, in V A Figure 1, avertical sectional view through. one

production of novel methods 'and'devices or' machines for rapidly roasting coffee and producing the finished product from the green bean and operations which may. be readily carried out treating larger or smaller quantities of coffee beans, the latter being in the green stage, so that the final roasted *cofiee product may be directly supplied to the consumeron demand of the consumer, freshly made from the green bean; These methodsand devices and the resulting products require rapid production of roasted cofiee without loss of aroma and flavor qualities :therefrom, in relatively simple and economical devices which are utilizable either in retail stores, or in the home itself,

or may be used in enlarged conditions for roasting if desired at central distributing roasting plants. In carrying out the present invention it has been found that if the green coffee bean is subjected to a preheating operation at a temperature insufilcient to produce roasting, subsequent roasting operations may be readily carried out without loss offlavor and aroma qualitiesin thecoffee oil tends to eliminate one of the principal coffee and further, suchpreheating operations enable the rapid roasting of thecofiee to\-be readily carried out. Most desirably the roasting is carried out in twostages in which the preto complete the heated" cofiee bean,

is subjected to a pre-roast operation at a temperature and'for a time insuflicient it into apaftially roasted condition; while the tially roasted elongated tion only, andnot by iway otlimitation, since form of roasting device that may be utilized in carrying out the present invention; and in Figure 2, anotherform of device for this purstages including a coiiee bean without loss of later stage involves a heat treatment fora tiine sufflcient to roast the 'pre-roasted cofle fil'iiii e;

For rapid operation it has-further been found desirable to subject coffee during the pre-roast treatment to a flattening operation so that duringthe pre-roast treatment the'coflee beans are desirably simultaneously flattened into elongated disc-like wafers. In addition, such parproduced, in the pre-roastoperation aresubjected to the final roasting treatment at the desired temperatures whilebeing subjected 'to "pressure to convert them "into a substantially flaked form. By heat treatment carried out in pre-heat 1 treatment as Y set. forth above, the roasted product is obtained having the fully developed flavor and aroma of the dients therefrom The successive heat treat-'- ment. stages are particularly valuable in conditioning: the bean while still in substantially.

roast of the bean but to convert flattened disc-like wafers 5 oil br other ingre-' a for the final roasting operation I Q and this is readily carried out particularly where flattening and flaking of the bean is simultaneously effected during the pre-roasting andlater roasting operations respectively. The flnal roasted and flaked product retaining the full values of the coffee may be utilized directly, or

may be reduced to a shredded condition, or to a powdered condition.

The treatments described above involve a continuity of operation on the cofiee bean in which the beans are carried through several stages of treatment at increasing temperatures. It will also be noted that during such treatment, the beans are subjected to increasing pressures because of the set of the rolls desirably employed. The continuity of the process may be further illustrated by treating the beans continuously in zones of treatment where the pressures increase from each zone to the successive one so that the beans during treatment in the pre-roast stages are'subjected to relatively light pressures which are increased until the highest pressures are reached in the later treatment zones. In such continuous processes where-the beans are subjected to increasing pressures in a multiplicity of zones, the heat may be supplied to the beans in stages as set forth above so that there is a preroast zone and 'a later flnal roasting zone, or the heat to which the beans are subjected may be substantially the same throughout the treatment with increments of pressure at succewve stages, because the beans pass through the earlier stages so rapidly that they have not been subjected to the heat for a sumcienttime to produce a completely roasted product, and such completely roasted product only emerges from the later stages.

As illustrative of the methods that may be employed for this purpose, the following is given. The green coffee bean may be preheated to a temperature of approximately 200 F. Such preheat treatment conditions the bean for the roast ing operation or for a pre-roasting operation and also conditions the beans so that they may be readily flattened without substantial rupture.

. The preheated green coffee beans thus obtained are then subjected desirably to a pre-roasting operation carried out for example, at temperaturesof about 400 F. which are suflicient to partially roast the coffee beans which have been subjected to the preheating operation. Further more, during such pre-roasting operation the coffee beans are desirably subjected to pressure as between rolls to flatten such preheated coflee during the pre-roasting operation into an elongated disc-like wafer. The pre-roast coffee product thus obtained is then desirably subjected to a final roasting operation as for example, at temperatures of 500 F. and for rapidity of operfoil of roasted coffee are rapidly' and readily powdered for use.

Figure 1 of the drawings illustrates one form of device which may be utilized for carrying out the present invention. As there illustrated, a vertical elongated container I has a hopper portion 2 for reception of the green cofiee bean described below used for pie-roasting and roastbeans to the desired temperature.

ing operations, may be suflicient to preheat the From the hopper 2 the beans 3 pass to a pair of pre-roasting rolls 6 desirably positioned immediately below the outlet of the hopper 2 so that the beans falling upon the pre-roast rollers 6, 6 are gripped therebetween and carried between the pre-roast rolls and discharged downwardly therefrom.

Such rolls may desirably be knurled or roughened to assist in the gripping of the bean 3 and the clearance between such rolls may be approximately 3*; of an inch. Such pre-roast rolls are desirably provided with heating means which may take the form of electric heating coils or gas heating units placed within the rolls.

From the pre-roast rolls the beans passv in a desirably flattened elongated disc-like form to the roasting rolls 1, I through a conduit 8. The roasting rolls I are desirably set quite close together and maintained at the roasting temperature, of for example, about 500 F. by electric heating coils, gaselements or other heating elements (not shown) which maybe utilized in any desirable way. In the roasting rolls or therebetween, the coflee is subjected to the flnal roasting operation and where the rolls are set quite close together the coifee emerges therefrom in the form of a roasted flaked condition, the roasting and flaking being completed simultaneously between the rolls I, I. v

While the coflee in the flanked and roasted condition may be used as such, it may desirably be permitted to .fall throughthe conduit 9 of sumcient length to partially cool the same down to a point at which some of the plasticity of the ation it is desirable to subject the beans during such flnal roasting step to pressure to convert them intoa flaked condition so that flaking and roasting take place simultaneously. For this pin-pose a pair of rolls may desirably be employed which rolls are heated to the temperatures desired, such roasting rolls taking the coffee from the' p're-roast rolls and converting the preroasted coffee into theflnal roasted form and flaked condition. The simultaneously flaked and roasted cofiee product thus obtained may -beutilized as such for brewing operations or may if.

desired, be permitted to cool and subjected to a shredding operation, as for example, between rolls which may be partially heated, as for example, at temperaturesof 100 F. and which rotate at diflerent speeds-so that the flakes Or flaked product is lost and the flaked material is available for a grinding or reducing operation.

This may be desirably carried out between rolls II, II maintained at temperatures approximating room temperature and these rolls are desirably operated at diflerential speeds in order to convert the foil or flaked form of coffee received therebetween to a shredded condition. The re-- duced product falls from the rolls II, .III and is ticularly' desirable because it retains all of the values of the cofiee'during the operation, and a unitary device of this character may be readily employed for use in the home'or in the treatment or small quantities of coflfee on demand produced directly in the store from the green beans by the distributor on demand of the purchaser. On the other hand the device lends-itselt to construction be-provided on the outer portions of the I to be ofgradually converging from the green condition at the receiving end to the ultimate roasted condition at the delivery end. For this p p se there is illustrated the,

container 2| which may be provided with the hopper portion 22 for reception of the green cofiee beans. From the hopper 22 the beans pass to a pair of endlessband conveyors 23, 24, these conveyors being spaced apart to form a con-verging channel 25 therebetween, which channel has its greatest width at 26 immediately adjacent the delivery end of the hopper 22, the channel-converging to its lower end where the distance between the bands as at 21, is quite small. To!

maintain these bands in position, they operate over pulleys, there being driving pulleys 23, 23 and end pulleys 30, 3|. 32, 33 are desirably employed between the driving pulleys 23, 29 and the end pulleys 30, 3|, the

to maintain the desired positioning of the endless band conveyors 23, 24. Pulleys 34, 35 may endless band conveyors fforadjustment to permit tightening or loosening of the band members (by com ventional means at shown). Scrapers 36, 31 are desirably pro ded acting against the endless band conveyors 23, and 24 respectively, for re- A series of idling pulleys idling pulleys cooperating with the other pulleys The present invention thus readily permits the production of a roasted cofiee bysimple and economical methods converting the green bean directly to the final roasted condition without loss of value therefrom enablingthe operation to, be economically carried out in the treatment of green coflee beans of any desiredIblend, produced directly on demand of the consumer.

a Treatment of the beans in accordance with the present invention and flavor oil is, of course; necessarily expressed to some extent during the pressure treatment of the beans in accordance with the present invention, such oil and other products appear tobe reabsorbed into the products before; they pass from .the lasttreatment zone. 1 Furthermore, thetreatfment of the beans in acontinuous treatment zone or in zones-placed successively one below the other, results'in the fresh. beans being in a preserves all of the values in the beans with very little if any, loss of aroma giving qualities.- This is particularly true with the device shown in Figure 2. While positionto' contact with vapors formed from beans in the later stages so that some absorption necessarily takes'place. It may be noted-in this connection'thatzadvantage is taken of the fact thatlthegoofiee bean is of substantially porous character. In anyevent, whatever theexplanation may be, treatment in accordance withthe present invention. resultscin a full-flavored roasted coffee producti'i-om which substantially moving any material which adheres tothe conveyors, the treated coiiee the container 38. I I H The beans may be heated by any desired beans being received in means during the passage through the device of Figure 2, such heating means, for example,-may take the form of electrical heating elements 39 which may be placed betweeneach successive pair; of idlingpulleys 32, 33. The number of I heating elements and the heat supplied willdepend on the particular treatment being carried out. Any of the elements which contact with the cofiee bean should desirably be made of material which is not afl'ected by 'per 22, pass down through the channel 23 where I gradually increasing pres-f sures and continuously to a heat treatment so? they are subjected to that the treated where it is collected in. the-receiver 33. Conbeans emerge from the end 01 the channel in thedesired roasted condition but" in reduced form. ,Generally the product emerge in substantially a powdered condition;

while *heating it to I none of the values ofthe coffee bean havebeerr lost. I y

Having thus set forth my invention, Iclaim:

1. The method of roasting coflee which com prises preheatingthe green coffee bean at a temperature substantially below roasting, flattening the preheated bean while heating it to'pre-roast temperature insuiii lent to complete the roast, and flaking.- the p ally roasted, flattened bean I I a temperature suihcient to complete the roast. 3 4 I 2. The method xof roasting coiiee which comprises preheating the *greencoflee bean at a temthe coiiee bean or 3 oil so that desirably the endless band conveyors tinuity ofheat and pressure treatment is readily Figure 2'. and while the channel has*been shown that the idlers may be se' between the endless'ban conveyors is .divided 'into several successive zones where the pressures increase .from one zone .to thepressure in thepressurejrom one. zone tothenext, increasing substantially. Continuity of treatment, however, is more desirable.

ype, it is apparent. so that the channel secured in a -deviceot the. character set forth in roasted,relatively thick, elongated, flattened,

perature substantially below roasting, and simultaneously flaking and roasting the preheated reen cofieebe'an. I I

3. The method of roasting .coiiee which comprises preheating the greencofl'ee been at a temperature of substantially 200 :F., flattening the preheated bean while heating it to a .pre-

roastingtemprature of substantially 400 F. in

sumciently to complete the roast, and flaking the partially'roa'sted, flattened bean while heating it to a roasting temperature oi about 509 F. to

. complete theibast,-

' a. In a'method of roasting coileathestepsof' preheating the green cofleebean at a tempera- 'ture substantially below roasting, the preheated bean while heating it to a -prejroast temperature insuflicient to and flattening complete the roast and to convert the coffee into a partially disc-like particle; I a

' 5. In, the methodof roasting coffee, the steps I of flatteningthe green coifeebean rapidly at a the next but where; any particular zone is substan-- temperature sunicient to roastthe been partially I but -'not;to complete the roast to convert the. I

green coifee bean into a relatively thick, clon gated, disc-like, relatively thiclr particle in partiallyroasted condition.

6. The-method oi roasting cofl'ee which .com- I prises heating greencoiiee beans while subjecting them to pressure of increasingamounts'until the beans are simultaneously roasted and comheated beans.

pressed into flattened particles.

7. The method of roasting coflee which comprises continuously heating green coffee beans while subjecting them to continuously increasing pressures until the beans are simultaneously roasted and compressed into flattened particles.

8. The method of roasting cofiee which comprises continuously subjecting green cofl'ee beans to increasing temperatures and pressures until the beans are simultaneously roasted and com- 1'1. A coffee roasting device including means [or preheating green coflee beans to a temperature substantially below roasting, heating rolls for flattening the preheated beans and heatin them to a pre-roast temperature to partially roast the bean, and heating rolls for simultaneou sly flaking and completing the roasting or the beans. r

12. A unitary cofiee roasting device comprising a closed container, a hopper at the upper portion of said container for receiving green cof- Iee beans, heating means adjacent said hopper to preheat the beans therein, a pair of pre-roast rolls positioned in said container below said hopper to receive the beans therefrom and to flatten and pre-roast the. pre-heated beans, means for heating said pre-roast rolls, a second pair of rolls positioned in said container below saidpre-roast rolls to receive pre-roasted beans therefrom and to flake and roast the beans simultaneously, and

means for heating said last named rolls.

1.3. A unitary coifeeroasting device comprising a container, a hopper carried by said container for receiving green coffee beans, a pair 01' endless band conveyors positioned in said container adjacent said hopper to receive the green beans therefrom, the conveyors being spaced from each other to form a converging channel within which the beans are treated, said channel having its greatest width adjacent the receiving end 'whereby beans in passing through said channel between the conveyors are subjected to increasing pressures, means for driving said conveyors, and means for heating the beans during the passage throughthe container.

. TOBIAS DANTZIG. 

